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reichelt hopes to follow the Aldi route to UK success

23 March 2016

German electronics distributor, reichelt elektronik, is expanding into the UK with its model of high stock availability and low prices.

The company is hoping that the business model followed by other German companies, such as Aldi and Lidl, will prove profitable for its selection of consumer electronics, electronic components and industrial products.

reichelt will keep prices down by launching an English-language web portal and shipping from its northern German warehouse to the UK. The company made the decision to launch the portal with Sterling pricing after sales from UK customers kept growing, despite it making no concerted effort to sell here. Even though the current volume of UK business is quite small, up to 25 deliveries a day, reichelt hope to increase that volume quite considerably by catering more to UK customers.

The products stocked by the German distributor are quite varied, with the site’s current front page showing a socket set, Raspberry Pi 3 bundle, a Meanwell DIN-rail power supply and a Logitech laser pointer. According to reichelt, the unifying factor is a price point that can be around 20 percent cheaper than UK distributors who also offer volumes down to a single product.

At the same time as the UK site launch, reichelt is looking to move into other nearby countries like France and Switzerland. A new warehouse is currently being built to allow the company to hold more stock as well to almost double its product range to 100,000 skus.

Current riechelt CEO, Ulf Timmermann, is a long time fan of the company, recalling that his favourite childhood memories were receiving a reichelt gift voucher every Christmas and browsing through products in the company’s catalogue. One reason he gives for the company’s success is that its logistics are so robust, with an ISO-certified process leading to a very low number of returns.